Revson-funded book, Palaces for the People, featured in The New York Times and WNYC

September 26, 2018

The Revson Foundation is proud to support the publication of Eric Klinenberg’s new book, Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.

THE NEW YORK TIMES— September 14, 2018 — In “Palaces for the People,” Eric Klinenberg offers a new perspective on what people and places have to do with each other, by looking at the social side of our physical spaces. He is not the first to use the term “social infrastructure,” but he gives it a new and useful definition as “the physical conditions that determine whether social capital develops,” whether, that is, human connection and relationships are fostered. Then he presents examples intended to prove that social infrastructure represents the key to safety and prosperity in 21st-century urban America.

THE TAKEAWAY— September 12, 2018 — Last week our host Tanzina Vega put out a call out on Twitter for people to name a beloved local haunt that’s shut down

Take the Seward Park Library in Manhattan’s Lower East Side for instance, where, on any given day, the three story building brims with people of all ages browsing for books, playing games, doing research, taking classes and more.

Klinenberg makes the case that not only do these types of social infrastructure — libraries, schools, community gardens, parks and churches — improve our quality of life, they can also be an essential and creative way of attacking some of society’s most pressing issues, from the opioid epidemic to climate change.

Program Areas

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